Jeffrey Parsons, who left town years ago but can’t seem to escape legal detritus from his business dealings in Springfield, is back in the news, this time in Texas, where he now lives.
Customers who hired Windsong Estate Sales, a company Parsons has said is owned by his wife, to conduct estate sales in the Lone Star State say they haven’t been paid, according to a story that aired today on KPRC television in Houston. A woman who spoke with the station said that she hired Windsong to sell her late mother’s belongings, but she is owed substantially less than she was promised. She told the station that
Windsong promised that a $2,500 check would be put in the mail, but it never arrived.
The woman told the Houston station that Windsong employees never provided their last names. The station in 2015 reported that Parsons was using the last name “Allen” when the station reported that he and his then girlfriend, who has an extensive criminal history, were conducting estate sales under the name Premier Estate Sales. The story aired after an initial report ran in which Parsons claimed that forgotten valuables found in a dresser by Premier had been returned to the rightful owner, who was never named and never appeared in the glowing initial segment that also aired on CNN and several other television stations around the country.
In addition to the woman who spoke with the station in today’s report, a woman last August sued Windsong Estate Sales, claiming that she’d hired the company to sell $50,000 worth of jewelry but was never paid. That case is pending.
Dan Fultz, Parsons’ attorney, says that his client shouldn’t be in the crosshairs for any alleged wrongdoing by Windsong.
“As you may recall, Jeff Parsons is merely an employee of Windsong,” Fultz said. “I think you’ve got the wrong person. You need to check with the principal of the company. I believe that’s his wife.”
Parsons is under criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield. He once ran a business buying gold and silver in buying shows set up across the country, typically in hotels, and owes millions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service, former customers, vendors and others. Former employees who successfully sued for unpaid wages are owed more than $12.3 million, but Parsons, after saying he doesn’t have the money, has been required to pay just $500 a month to satisfy the judgment. THR and Associates, Parsons’ company that bought and sold precious metals, declared bankruptcy in 2012. That case remains open.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2017.
